DEATH THREAT TO U.S. BORDER REPORTER ALLEGED

Embassy, Groups Decry Mexico Drug Traffickers' Attempt To Stifle
Media

MEXICO CITY - Journalism advocacy groups and the U.S. Embassy on
Friday denounced a purported threat by drug traffickers to kill an
American reporter on U.S. soil in coming days for coverage of cartel
violence along the Texas-Mexico border.

The threat, which was relayed to reporters by trusted U.S. sources,
did not mention any journalist specifically. But it was said to focus
on those who regularly cover an ongoing cartel turf war in Nuevo
Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas. The purported threat was
to be carried out in Laredo, according to the sources.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists issued an alert on
the apparent threat and said it had urged the Mexican government,
during a meeting with the Mexican ambassador to the U.S., Arturo
Sarukhan, to take steps to protect journalists.

Because of the potential danger posed by the threat, the San Antonio
Express-News temporarily removed its border reporter from its Laredo
bureau.

"We don't know that the report is credible, and we hope it isn't. But
until we feel comfortable knowing that, we're going to err on the side
of caution," Express-News editor Robert Rivard said Friday. "I think
that was a prudent move."

The Dallas Morning News, which regularly covers cartel operations in
Nuevo Laredo, was also taking precautions, which the paper does not
publicize, said editor Bob Mong. At the same time, he said, The News
will continue to cover the drug story.

"Reporting from Mexico and from the border is an important component
of what we provide our readers, and because of that we'll continue to
pursue stories that we think serve our readers from that region," Mr.
Mong said.

Tony Garza, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, denounced attempts to cow the
media.

"Threats against journalists, in an attempt to intimidate them from
reporting the truth, must be condemned by all of us who understand the
important role of a free press in a democratic society," he said in a
prepared statement Friday.

The Mexico Foreign Correspondents Association warned its members to be
careful.

"We have information from reliable sources that any U.S. or other
foreign journalist in the area could become a target for assassination
by killers hired by the local drug cartel," the e-mail message said.

Nuevo Laredo is a stronghold of the Gulf cartel and its paramilitary
enforcement arm, the Zetas.

Threats against American journalists working in Mexico are rare, but
Mexican reporters covering the drug trade have become used to living
in danger.

According to the Paris-based advocacy group Reporters Without Borders,
Mexico is second only to Iraq in the number of killings and
kidnappings of journalists. More than 30 Mexican journalists have been
slain or have "disappeared" in the last six years.

Ramon Cantu Deandar, editor of the Nuevo Laredo newspaper El Manana,
deplored the threat against American journalists.

"We join in solidarity with our U.S. colleagues who cover the
U.S.-Mexico border, particularly the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo area. And we
greatly regret the news of this threat," he said in a telephone interview.

He added, "Welcome to the club."

A grenade attack against the El Manana newsroom nearly killed a
reporter last year, and one of its top editors, Roberto Mora, was
stabbed to death outside his home in 2004.